


That Someone

by wyvern



Series: Merthur drabbles [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drabble, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-02-22
Packaged: 2017-12-03 07:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/695567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyvern/pseuds/wyvern
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin's clumsy, Arthur's a knight in shining armour - figuratively speaking. They meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Someone

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Ese alguien](https://archiveofourown.org/works/883026) by [Aisjustrunning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aisjustrunning/pseuds/Aisjustrunning)



> Not brit-picked. Not beta'd. I apologize in advance for any errors!
> 
> Also, it's pretty full of clichés. Sorry about that.

\--------------------

The bus leaves the stop before Merlin has the chance to sit down. He almost loses his balance, and desperately grabs a hold on the nearest available thing he can reach. It turns out to be someone’s shoulder.

“Ouch”, that someone says.

Merlin winces. “Sorry!”, he says and immediately lets go. “Whoops!”

The bus takes a sharp turn and Merlin almost loses his footing again. Someone grabs his arm and keeps him from toppling over.

“Ouff!”, Merlin exclaims, and gets an indignant huff in response from the lady across the aisle, who he accidentally bumped into despite the steadying hand on his arm. “Sorry!”, he says as he tries to straighten up.

“You really are clumsy, aren’t you?”

Merlin looks in the direction of the voice. It belongs to the someone who he accidentally hurt when he stumbled the first time. The same someone who grabbed his arm and kept him from falling over the second time. The someone who now looks at him with a crooked smile and two absolutely fantastic azure blue eyes that matches his golden blonde hair. Merlin’s sourly retort dies on his tongue, and he finds himself blatantly staring at the man. He’s _gorgeous._

“Um”, he says, conversationally.

The man smiles broadly. “That’s one way of putting it”, he says.

Merlin swallows. “Um”, he stutters. “Thanks. For... saving me.”

“Yep, I’m a regular knight in a shining armour”, the man says. “I’m getting off at the next stop, so please, take my seat.”

He gets up and gestures to Merlin to sit. Merlin does, but he keeps his eyes on the man the entire time. The man chuckles, clearly a bit embarrassed by the attention.

“Seeing something you like?” he says, but his voice is friendly.

Merlin blushes violently.

“Um”, he says again, and lowers his eyes enough to stare at the man’s chest instead. It doesn’t really make it any easier to speak, though, because the man is fit, and Merlin can see the impressive muscles through his shirt. “Um.”

The man looks down at Merlin and laughs. It’s an open, completely unguarded laugh, and it makes Merlin’s insides curl up into themselves out of pure happiness.

“I think I’m going to start interpret your ‘um’s as ‘yes’s.”

“Um”, Merlin answers, logically. And then blushes scarlet again.

The man laughs once more. He meets Merlin’s eyes, and his laugh calms and melts into a fond smile instead.

“You...”, he begins as the bus slows down. “You’re pretty special.”

Merlin just stares. The man starts and breaks eye contact as the bus comes to a complete halt. The gentle smile’s still there, though. Merlin relishes in it, in the way those lips curve. They look so soft... and very kissable.

“So”, the man says. “I’m Arthur, and... this is my stop.” He pauses. “Bye, then.”

Merlin just gapes as the man turns and exits. His brain doesn’t start working again until a solid minute later. He presses the stop request button, filled with an indescribable need to tell that man, _Arthur_ , his name. Maybe give him his number, maybe kiss him right then and there. Oh my, he really wants to do _that._

The bus drives all the way to the next stop, though, and an anxious Merlin exits at a run, almost crashing into a pram. The mother yells angrily at him in a language he doesn't understand, and he just shouts a loud “Sorry!” as he weaves his way through the crowded pavement towards the bus stop where the man got off. 

_It’s not likely he’s still there, he probably won’t be there, he won’t be there,_ Merlin tells himself as he runs. But he can’t stop now, he needs to know if, maybe, possibly, there’s a chance that that man actually felt the connection, too? 

Merlin’s breathless and his chest hurts from the running when he sees the impossible: the man’s still there. He sits at the bench at the stop, slightly hunched over with his head resting in his hands. He looks tired, but he can’t be, because not ten minutes ago he was standing at the bus, radiating gorgeousness.

Merlin slows down to a walk when Arthur looks up and sees him. His expression in that moment gets forever captured in Merlin’s mind. There’s amazement and incredulity – and then that open, beautiful smile. Panting hard, Merlin places his hands at his own waist, as to help him breathe easier. It doesn't help at all, but Merlin doesn't really care. 

When he finally reaches the bench, he casually sits down beside Arthur and takes a few more calming breaths.

“I’m Merlin”, he says, still slightly breathless but unable to keep the smile off his face. “I think this was my stop, too.”

Arthur looks at him, studies him for a second. And then he breaks out laughing.

\--------------------

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A bit of lunacy. A bit of destiny.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11044683) by [digthewriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/digthewriter/pseuds/digthewriter)




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